by Stephen Henderson
, USA TODAY

by Stephen Henderson
, USA TODAY

We've heard a lot this week from legal gun owners about their rights and the belief among many of them that President Obama's plans for tighter firearms regulation are bald, aggressive infringements.

They might be right.

I spent five years covering the U.S. Supreme Court - reading, writing and thinking about the Constitution, its meaning and origins. And there's no question: The right to bear arms is as exalted and protected in our constitutional framework as any other right.

I don't like guns, don't own any and, truth be told, don't really respect the choice to have one if it's not for hunting. In my view, a gun is simply a tool for killing. But guns are woven into the fabric of America's founding and have an integral tie to the very notion of freedom, how it's preserved and how it's defended.

Some of what the president has suggested (bans on certain ammunition and kinds of weapons) courts a prolonged and irresolvable argument about liberty. At the end of that conversation? Not much in the way of improved outcomes.

Owner responsibility

What we need to be talking about is the responsibility that legal gun sellers and owners bear when their weapons wind up in illegal hands. Obama's best chance to make a real change lies in highlighting the nexus between legal gun ownership and illegal possession.

Think of it this way: The average miscreant wreaking havoc with a gun likely didn't buy that gun from a legal dealer or go through the necessary background checks. But someone else did. And heightening the level of responsibility for the legal seller and purchaser of that weapon is one of the best ways to stop the flow of guns into hands that ought not wield them.

Daniel Webster is the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research. There aren't many people who've spent more time or energy thinking about the link between legal and illegal gun ownership in this country. A study of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' gun trafficking cases "found that the largest conduits of gun trafficking involved illegal straw purchases (someone buying the gun for someone who can't) and corrupt licensed gun dealers evading gun sales laws," Webster told me last week.

"A separate ATF study," he said, "found that over half of guns recovered from criminals and crime scenes were traced to 1% of licensed dealers. I've conducted several studies demonstrating that when there is greater regulation and oversight of gun dealers, and when they are vulnerable to civil and criminal penalties if they do not obey gun sales laws, far fewer guns flow (to) criminals."

Gun shop penalties

The Constitution permits legislation that revokes an individual's freedom for life after the commission of a third serious crime. Logically, it should also permit the stiffest possible penalties for gun shops caught evading safeguards intended to keep guns from criminals.

And gun owners could be held more responsible, too. If I give a car to someone who's not licensed to drive and he kills someone with it, I could be held liable. If a legal gun owner sells a firearm to someone who shouldn't have it, similar rules should apply.

Sloppiness also ought to be met with consequences. A study in the mid-1990s concluded that nearly 500,000 guns are stolen here each year - a mind-blowing figure.

It doesn't violate anyone's rights to require firearms thefts be reported (laws vary by state right now) or to institute real penalties for gun owners who don't lock up weapons that are later used in crimes.

Some of what Obama proposed last week touches on these ideas. The president would enhance firearms tracing by creating a more thorough database of gun registrations.

But you'd think the strongest advocates for these kinds of policies would be responsible gun owners and sellers themselves. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by separating themselves from their more feckless compatriots.

Guns may be a permanent part of American culture; I can accept that, even if I don't like it. But if we focus on heightening responsibility for gun ownership and gun sales, we might just make a dent in the madness that makes getting an illegal firearm too easy for any civilized society.

Stephen Henderson is editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press, where this column first appeared.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors.